|
So what is Albion? Well, first of all, let's look at the cover image of the game:  Cool, right?. Released in 1995, Albion is a fairly linear role playing game made by German developer Blue Byte, who are probably more famous for their Settlers series than for this RPG. This is entirely deserved. Albion is most of the time not a particularly interesting game mechanically. The writing of the game is generally pretty okay for its time, so the LP is not going to be me complaining about the game all day. The game can be rather wordy however. There are also a lot of little details that I do enjoy about the game, which I'll be getting more into as we reach them. But why THIS game? Albion was one of my favourite games when I was a little dumb kid, even with all its many baffling decisions, many of which I'm going to point out as we encounter them. Specifically some of the takes on alternate cultures were really interesting to me as a child. I'm quite curious to see whether it holds up as well as it did when I was a child. Game-wise the game has two different control schemes and viewpoints, so to speak. Most of the time the game is in a top-down 2d isometric view, but inside particular dungeons, the view will switch to a first person perspective that's guaranteed to get you killed a couple of times due to jankiness. The combat system itself is balanced roughly "not at all", and I'll probably spend some time explaining why it doesn't work once we get to a point where there's any combat. But we didn't come for the sake of listening to me spit out words. The game is fully more than able to do this itself. So without further ado, let's go! (also preferably no spoilers) Update 1: Dreams and Expository scenes Update 2: Time for Take-off Update 3: Awakening a Stranger in a Strange land Update 4: Combat and Exploration Update 5: Ceremonies and Stiriik Update 6: Killing our way around the beautiful island of Nakiridaani Update 7: The Guild Formerly Known As The Former Guild. Update 8: Confronting Bradir Exercu fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jul 24, 2015 |
#
?
May 16, 2015 23:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 22:04 |
|
|
Left blank if I need it in the future for something
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2015 23:56
|
|
|
Dreams and expository scenes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB0EhPaSqWE If I had dreams like this on a regular basis, I'd probably be worried about my mental health.  Note the mouse being stuck to the corner of the text box. I can't actually move the mouse out of the text box because Albion.  The square to the southwest of our Nameless Protagonist is our interaction-cursor, brought up by rightclicking. It can reach exactly three squares away from us, which technically has the consequence of us being longer-reached on diagonals, but that's a problem with practically any grid-based range system  We rightclick on the cabinet and get a vaguely contextual menu. Some things we can only examine (in this case we would get the riveting description "A cabinet") and others we can also Manipulate which is a catch-all description of "we can do things with the thing". In this case we open it.  Like so. We've got the content of the chest on the left-hand side and the inventory of our newly named protagonist, Tom, on the right side. In the middle we've got a neat equipment screen for Tom. The chest contains a ring, a pair of boots, and four stimdrinks.  There is nothing else of any interest in the room so let's leave.    : Christine! It's sure good to see you, honey! I feel awful. You were right last night, I should have stayed with you. I had that crazy dream again. It's getting... clearer... every time. : It's crazy all right. You're not usually affected like this. It must have something to do with the over-c jump. Stay with me tonight and I will drive away those awful nightmares!: The dream began before the jump and it's really not that scary. It's just so intense.Never mind, what's the use. I'll just walk around for a while longer. Maybe I'll run into Captain Brandt and find out when I have to launch with Snoopy. : Snoopy? Haven't you...? Boy, you must have slept sound. You could hear the explosion through the entire section!: Explosion? Get to the point! What are you talking about, Chris? What happened to Snoopy? : He took control of the over-c Com unit during the jump. It overloaded and pretty much exploded. They say bits of him were all over the place.: Oh man... that's awful! Boy, it sure makes you stop and think! That makes Hofstedt the only government official on board. : Yeah, and I've heard you are going to make the exploratory flight with Hofstedt now instead of Snoopy.: Well... if that isn't a great start to my day. But, I guess, things aren't so bad... Hofstedt is O.K. and th accident really doesn't change anything in my flight plan. I'll have to talk to Joe about it. : Your buddy is assigned to the Northeast section today, near the access to the communications room.Well, I have to get going now - I still have a lot of work to do. See you later, sweetie : Bye, Christine.and she wanders off to do work. We, on the other hand, wander off to loot, as is our job as protagonists  Success! in some random idiot's room, we find a manipulateable cabinet! I wonder what's inside  Stims! Everyone loves stims. wandering around a bit more, we meet this friendly gentleman  Maybe not so friendly. He's a busy man.  And here's the dialogue screen. Golden text in this window generally denotes text that is specific for the person you're talking to. Asking him when we get to take off, however...  : I cannot give you any more information, Driscoll. It would take me too long. The bridge will announce the take-off time over the loudspeaker shortly. Now please excuse me, I still have a lot to do. This feels like a callous way to speak about a guy who has presumably been on your ship for some time. Poor Snoopy. We head down to check in on Christine again. Be warned, I am going to ask her about a lot of things and we're going to get a truckload of generally inconsequential exposition.  : What are you doing? : I'm checking the landing systems for the fourth time today.: What can you say about landing : If everything works, and we assume it will, we will be buckled in for about forty-five minutes. After that the landing should be complete and segment of the ship will fold out horizontally. Then there will be direct gravitational orientation within the segments. Don't forget to stow away the items in your cabin.: What can you say about Flight : I envy you and Hofstedt. You will be the first to see Nugget. I'm crossing my fingers for you, Tom. Take care of yourself, O.K.?: What can you say about Nugget : If only half of the data the probe sent back about our target is true, everyone can treat themselves to an indi license with his bonus. The amount of raw material has to be almost as high as on Joshi. I think Hofstedt knows more about the exact data.: What can you say about Joshi : The green planet. Well, it used to be anyway. FOrtunately, the data about Nugget shows a desert world. At least we don't have to listen to any whining, like with those flop-ears on Joshi. I'm really not an environmentalist, but to dig up a life-filled planet like Joshi really wouldn't be my thing.: What can you say about Floppy Ears : Yes, you're right I guess. After all, beside the Hoika, they were the only intelligent beings that have ever been discovered. But even those government eggheads thought the lop-ears had come to the end of their development. Pretty decadent. Yes, it's a pity that they caught that disease. There were only a couple thousand of them left, but when you think about wiping out an entire race... Well, at least the Hoika are still alive.: What can you say about Hoika : The settlers were probably a little too rough on Gaia's original inhabitants. After all, it's the only world discovered that supports humans. The Hoika have their reservations.: What can you say about indi : Yeah, just imagine zipping around in an individual vehicle, just like some rich guy!: What can you say about HofstedtChristine, Yes, now he's the only 'official' on board. Actually for an egghead, the guy's pretty okay. He likes to criticize the company when you talk to him for a while, though. Well, he's right in a way: those big bosses at the top aren't angels. : What can you say about government : I guess the governments are watching us so carefully because they stil haven't faced the fact that corporations control space travel. DDT has plenty of red tape, but these government bureaucrats could never build a ship like the Toronto - even if they had the money for it.: What can you say about Toronto : The Toronto is the biggest ship I've been on up to now, like all of us I guess. Everything is brand new. I've heard DDT has invested 3 years worth of profits in this ship. Over 120 billion credits! It makes you dizzy just when you think about it.: What can you say about environmentalist : Have you heard the news about the environmentalists? The radical wing has surrounded the last Galapagos Island with a mine belt. Three Peruvian military ships ran into it. The moderate environmentalists are furious. It's going to be hard for them to impose more restrictions on us now.: What can you say about Dream : You still can't get that crazy dream out of your head? It's so strange that it keeps coming back. Well, since it's not really a nightmare, I hope you can live with it until it stops.: What can you say about DDT : Wait a minute. Strange. I work for this multi, but I can't seem to remember right now what the abbreviation stands for. No-one ever uses anything else. It's something like... Doimlr-Daithasu-Thompson or something like that...: What can you say about data : The data promises a planet with such a high concentration of raw materials that using this giant crate will really pay off. They must really have had a big party in HQ when the probe results came in. I can't wait to see what Nugget looks like. Although it probably won't be all that exciting. It's supposed to be a desert world without enough oxygen for free breathing. No poisonous substances in the atmosphere, though. No life except maybe a few simple plants. It's a lot smaller than the Earth, but because of its heavy core, we can expect a gravity of 0.8G. It's a good value, easier on the equipment.: See you soon! : Bye, big guy.And with those words, we're done with most of the exposition in one big expository girlfriend dump. Let's go check out what's up with Snoopy getting blown up.  Oh, maybe we should check in on Joe first.  This nondescript hallway leads to both. Note the arrow on the right side of the screen. It's my movement cursor.  Oh no, there are guards blocking the way to the COM room. How are we ever going to get in?  Going down would lead us to Joe's, but let's go look at the secret entrance first.  Oh. Such a shame. If only we knew someone who had the access code to the maintenance tunnels like, I dunno, our friend Joe who works in maintenance.  On that note, this is the stupidest way to type in a number. It's not clear from the picture, but it's asking for a four-digit number. Which you have to pick with a scrolling bar. Who the gently caress got that idea? Let's guess at 0. Maybe the security staff are really lazy?  Alas. I guess we have to go talk to Joe.  Joe's office is nice. I wonder why he has left a pair of pliers on the ground though.  : Joe! The last time you looked like that was after that tour through Osaka, just before the launch. : Urg. Don't remind me. I am drowning in work this close to landing. At least our sake marathon in Osaka was worth it, ha ha!: Have you seen the security forces in this area? : Yes, they're blocking access to the COM room. Arrogant guys.: You bet. You know, I've always been curious. I'd like to have a look at the mess in the COM room. : Hmm, I know how we can get by those snoops. I can show you an access to the service deck. You should be able to slip past those security types and get into the COM room. What do you think?: Good idea! Let's go! : Okay. Look, the wall panels with the green light chains cover the accesses to the service deck. You'll find one of these in the room north of this one. The access code for this deck is 1042. Behind it you'll find a ladder going down. There you can find a service passage into the COM area.: See you soon! : Take care, Tom.Surely even if Tom really is curious to go in and snoop around where someone just got blown the gently caress up as some sort of crazy RPG protagonist, it's a violation of all sorts of security standards to give a pilot access to the service deck  Luckily this code is much better than 0 and we're able to enter   Glorious beautiful 3D. Time to puzzle our way through the service deck.  Oh. Stepping on the floorplate right in front of the door opens the door. How convenient. The next room isn't any more complicated, it just has four floorplates scattered in the corners of the room.  Next we are introduced to switches. Here we need to flick both switches to open the door  The map can be really helpful at times. If you ever for some reason find yourself playing this game, the map will keep you from going insane in the 3d dungeons.  In this room, we can't actually do anything. We have to wait for the clunky roomba to make his way across the switch  Like so. A bit of switchpressing and walking later, we arrive at a room opened by yet another switch.  Inside this room is an apparently useless wall cabinet. To press onwards, we push another switch, but oh no!  So the door is closed behind us. The furthest back we can backtrack is now to this wall-cabinet room. Walking around for a bit in the service level brings us to a keypad. I wonder what the password is for this keypad.  Yeah, it's also 1042. The following room has a ladder out of there and into... The COM room  Let's go take a look at where the explosion came from  Tom is just about to turn away when he notices an object under the destroyed console. It is a weapon! How in the world did this gun get here? Except for security, weapons are strictly forbidden on board! An interesting find in any case...Ladies and gentlemen, we officially have a gun. This is a very powerful weapon indeed, but how do we get it out of here?
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2015 23:56
|
|
|
Oooh my god, i'm getting phantom sickness just from glancing at those screenshots. Albion always seemed like a really cool game back in the day, but i never got very far into it, because there's 3d-sections (these maintenance tunnels, man... they go on forever) that just inexplicably wrecked me with the worst kind of motion sickness i have ever experienced. Like, playing just half an hour of this game's first person sections was enough to knock me into a state of curling up and longing for the sweet release of death for at least half a day. Maybe i'll finally get to see where this game was trying to go via this LP.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 02:34
|
|
|
Holy poo poo, someone else has played this game. I love this game. It's silly and kinda unremarkable, but it has a good sense of exploration and buildup, and a few of the characters actually still stick out to me.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 02:40
|
|
|
That fantasy UI is so out of place in our sci-fi ship.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 02:56
|
|
|
I loved the idea of this game, but couldn't run it when it came out (it was mid-'97 before we finally upgraded from our 486SX/25). Looking forward to following.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 03:01
|
|
|
SSNeoman posted:That fantasy UI is so out of place in our sci-fi ship. Wait for it....
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 03:05
|
|
|
HenryEx posted:Wait for it.... The box art pretty much gives it away that we're gonna go Star Ocean.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 03:52
|
|
|
I think I got to the part where things turn celtic or thereabouts, but after that I sort of got lost and didn't get anywhere. Or I was getting my rear end kicked by monsters. Fun game, but sometimes very maze-like.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 04:41
|
|
|
God drat, Albion. I got it a couple years ago for the Play An Obscure Game thread. I played for a reasonable amount of time, but I don't think I was able to get very far. Everything tried to kill me, and everything did a very good job of it. I remember it fondly(?) as Star Ocean, Except Made In America, With Furries. I always wondered how it ended.
Fur20 fucked around with this message at 06:15 on May 17, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 06:01
|
|
|
HenryEx posted:Oooh my god, i'm getting phantom sickness just from glancing at those screenshots. I entirely agree, the 3d can be very disorienting at times. I don't know exactly what it is, perhaps the very limited field of view, but I know a lot of people who got motion sickness from this game.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 10:51
|
|
|
Exercu posted:I entirely agree, the 3d can be very disorienting at times. I don't know exactly what it is, perhaps the very limited field of view, but I know a lot of people who got motion sickness from this game. Maybe it's a combination of the low resolution and extremely pixelated stuff you'll encounter later on, once it goes all.. Coloury.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 11:06
|
|
|
Oh boy, so many memories just start rushing up. I loved this game as a kid, but I don't think I ever managed to beat it because it's so overwhelming - for having a linear plot, it actually allows you quite a lot of freedom. If I remeber correctly, you can for example leave the ship for plot without doing any of the exploratory stuff, which leaves you... Rather underequipped.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 11:09
|
|
|
THE BAR posted:Maybe it's a combination of the low resolution and extremely pixelated stuff you'll encounter later on, once it goes all.. Coloury. Oh I'm aware of practically everything I'll encounter. I played the demo as a dumb kid like, 15 times, and the full game a handful of times afterwards. It was one of the few RPGs I had as a kid. anilEhilated posted:Oh boy, so many memories just start rushing up. I loved this game as a kid, but I don't think I ever managed to beat it because it's so overwhelming - for having a linear plot, it actually allows you quite a lot of freedom. If I remeber correctly, you can for example leave the ship for plot without doing any of the exploratory stuff, which leaves you... Rather underequipped. Yeah, you can pretty much just gently caress around on the ship until you get to go. The only really important thing you lose is the gun though. The gun is super powerful as I'll show once we get going. The rest is just boots (which are pretty okay) and stims (which are pretty neat). On that note I'll probably post the next update sometime today.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 11:15
|
|
|
Exercu posted:I entirely agree, the 3d can be very disorienting at times. I don't know exactly what it is, perhaps the very limited field of view, but I know a lot of people who got motion sickness from this game. It's the field of view being completely off, yes. They basically took the 35-ish degree horizontal FOV that was common in other RPGs of the time (think Might and Magic and Eye of the Beholder) where the 3D view is a small inset. The problem is Albion has a giant widescreen view so the disconnect makes moving around very disorienting. It's the one video game I can think of that actually made one of my friends throw up.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 11:37
|
|
|
Exercu posted:
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 13:56
|
|
|
Time for Take-off When we last left our protagonist, he had found a gun. Surely the guards outside won't take offense if we walk out with it.   Stay right there, Driscoll! How did you get into that blocked-off area? Don't move, we are going to search you!Colonel Priver searches Tom. A weapon! Driscoll, are you crazy? This is going to be marked in your personal records, you can count on that!Get out of here, you will be hearing from us! Colonel Priver confiscates the weapon! Oh. Let us rewind a bit to before we tried walking out of the scene of the accident with a gun. The solution to this optional little puzzle is to go back down the stairs to the little room with the wall cabinet.  See, that room can be accessed from the other side without hitting the switch that locks you into moving towards the COM room. So let's put the gun inside.  Tom agrees with our sentiments. I've said it before, but he's kind of very RPG protagonist in his way of thinking. "gently caress YEAH GUN FOR ME"  We also get two levels for this. Tom goes from level 3 to 5. Tom gets 4 Life Points per level, and three training points. We'll cover all of these things once we're somewhere where they matter. Life points are self-explanatory, training points are mostly self-explanatory. Let's try leaving again, this time gunless.  Everything happens the same way as before, but instead of Colonel Priver getting very upset about our gun and taking it, he just tells us this.  I was going to spare you running through the maintenance tunnels again, but since it was pointed out that they can get dizzying, I'm going to video the walk from the entrance to the maintenance deck to the wall cabinet room and back. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3FHHjUGcKQ Yep. Around this time the game starts getting very insistent with me.   Yeah, no. We've still got a few things to do before we get on with the plot. Answering "No" gets us this: Tom decides to ignore the call for the time being. Let's go check in with our best bud Joe. Well, have you seen anything interesting? Well, the over-c COM unit looks real bad. Guess what: I found a gun there! Wow! Don't show that thing to anybody or they'll take it from you immediately!Other than that, Joe has nothing new to say. Also, Joe, please stop enabling Tom's RPG protagonisthood. He's just a pilot dammit. There are a few people I want to check in with before we get going. Those are, in order, Rainer Hofstedt, the replacement for Snoopy, and Ned, the AI of the ship. Other than that everyone else has nothing new to say.  Just who I wanted to talk to!  Rainer is a friendly man. I like him.  Driscoll, hello! I am so pleased I ran into you! Have you heard about Inspector Beegle's unfortunate demise? Hello, Hofstedt. Yes, my girlfriend just told me about it. It's really too bad - it must have been a horrible sight! That stubborn British blockhead! he was no engineer, but he should have known the risks involved in operating the COM unit during the over-c jump. We're still a long way from completely understanding this whole beyond-light-speed technology. The poor devil! That makes you the only government official on board now, right? Yes, I'm the only snoop left - please don't remind me. Anyway, I spoke with Captain Brandt. He still intends to carry out the exploratory flight- and with humble me instead of Beegle. Well, Driscoll, it looks like you've got a new passenger now. I don't want to seem heartless, but it's all the same to the shuttle - it needs two people. As far as I am concerned, the flight can take place as planned. Yes, I agree. And, I must confess I am very excited about the flight. The take-off should be within the next couple of days. We must wait for the Captain's announcement. Well, I guess that is all for now. I'm sure we'll see each other before then. See you later, Hofstedt. Yes, till then, Driscoll. Anne Dorbeck in the cafeteria will give you up to 12 rations as long as you're willing to say "Bye" and then talk to her again. Each time you do it, you gain two rations. Not too shabby! Though rations have weight so there's no point in stacking them up forever. They're also not expensive once that becomes a relevant consideration.. Finally we find Ned walking around the ship.  Hello, ah, Ned. What do you know about the accident that killed Inspector Beegle? The discharge which unfortunately led to Mister Beegle's death must have occurred during the over-c phase. Unfortunately, I don't know why Mister beegle was trying to operate the COM unit at precisely that moment. He did not have any personal relations with other crew members, so no one was able to give me information about his motives. I am sorry that I cannot give you more information on this matter since the death of a government official - even if it was undoubtedly an accident - puts our company in a bad light. Ned, do you have any more precise information about my exploratory flight with Dr. Hofstedt? As you can gather from the announcements, everything's ready for the launch. You need only to report to the launching area when you hear an announcement. Are the landing preparations running according to plan? I'm happy to report that all systems are operating at an error level which is 5 times below all previous flights of DDT space vehicles. To put it another way, everything's running like clockwork, Mister Driscoll.Well, that was not particularly informative. As a sidenote, in the time it took me to wander around the ship looking for Rainer and Ned, the announcer called me 15 times. There is only one thing left to be done before take-off, and that's check out Snoopy's room.  Hmm, so he's got cartridges in his room, does he? That probably explains the gun. Well, we can't put this off forever. All good things must come to an end, and that includes expository space ships. Next time the call comes around, we accept[  Okay, Driscoll, everything is ready for your flight. All data required for course determination are available to you in the shuttle systems, Mr. Driscoll. During the flight, I will communicate directly with you so we can immediately evaluate the transmitted data. You know your orders: Carry out measurements in orbit and on site to verify the probe data. Get Mr. Hofstedt down safely, Driscoll. Good luck. Thank you, sir. I'll do my best. Are you ready, Hofstedt? Sure! Step on it, Driscoll!Tom brings the shuttle safely out of the mothership. The little spaceship has a powerful engine and they are near the target planet after only a couple of hours...  Thank you, I'm in just the right mood to fly today. There's a lot of routine in my job, but flying to a new planet is always exciting. You can say that again! It's a good thing my office doesn't know, but I would have given up a week's pay just to experience this moment. We're coming into visual range! Look, Hofstedt, it doesn't look like a desert world to me!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0DLn7HR5HU The video and the screenshots contain the same, but watch the video anyway. The music is not half bad.  I will speak with the Toronto. Meanwhile, try to get something on your instruments. Shuttle to Toronto! Ned, how's the contact?  The reception is excellent Mr. Driscoll. Are you in visual contact with the target now? Yes. But the planet does not really look like a desert. Mr. Hofstedt is checking the instruments right now. Inter...ing. Oh, I th..k the conn...ion is becoming weak... But, continue. The dense cloud cover is making measurements difficult. The analysis does show large amounts of raw materials... There appears to be more water than we originally assumed... One mo...n, Mr. Hofst...t. The con..ct...n is becoming weaker. Are you having any difficul...? Mr. Driscoll?" No. Everything looks O.K. here. I'm trying to run a check! Mr. Dr..coll? Your status shows critical values. Report please! Failure of several systems! Manual control O.K..! Trying to turn around! We have problems with the energy supply. I...HEY! It exploded! Oh no, I'm losing control! Hofstedt, hold tight! WE'RE GOING DOWN"The shuttle gets caught in the planet's gravitational field and quickly starts to fall towards it! The little ship is rocked heavily as it enters the atmosphere. Tom works feverishly and makes a crash landing with only the manual controls... Slowly, the men come to.  Certainly not with this shuttle. Nevertheless, you can thank me for your still being alive! The automatic controls wouldn't have brought this thing down safely! O.K, O.K. I get it.What do we do now? Now we put on our masks and climb out. If we can breathe the air, we'll go through the supplies and work on the radio so we can try to make contact. If the air is too thin... that'll be all she wrote. Oh, dear. Well, there's no purpose in delaying it. Let's go.I guess we're screwed on this barren desert planet with absolutely no life or air.  Or not. I guess Tom and Rainer were right when they said it didn't look like a desert planet Fantastic! Just smell! Listen! This place is humming with life!How could the probe have sent such data? This is a real sensation! First, let's get away from the shuttle. In this oxygen-rich atmosphere, it could...  Welp. I guess that's all for this LP. It is not Exercu fucked around with this message at 20:12 on May 17, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 16:29
|
|
|
Rainer is the best. He's a really good sci-fi scientist character and his reactions to a lot of the stuff that goes on are pretty great.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 17:33
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:Rainer is the best. He's a really good sci-fi scientist character and his reactions to a lot of the stuff that goes on are pretty great. He really is. Unlike a lot of scientist characters in fiction who tend to be almost detached, Rainer is just kind of enthusiastically interested.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 20:17
|
|
|
Yeah, they managed to pretty much nail the reactions to what's about to happen too. For a totally unknown German RPG the writing was very solid.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 21:27
|
|
|
Exercu posted:Rainer is just kind of enthusiastically interested. And that's without being comically so.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2015 23:17
|
|
|
Exercu posted:He really is. Unlike a lot of scientist characters in fiction who tend to be almost detached, Rainer is just kind of enthusiastically interested. Seems like our protagonist is the guy who has to keep everything together, which frees up Rainier to mark out at the infinite majesty of creation.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 18:54
|
|
|
I really liked this game. The 3d sections were somewhere between annoying and atrocious, but it was still fun. The exploration was probably my favourite part of this game, which cemented Rainier as my favourite character. He can just gush enthusiastically over alien toilets all day 
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 19:27
|
|
|
The german cover had some weird alien titties on it. The game actually seems to have a rather good translation, at least so far.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 19:40
|
|
|
Oh man, this game! I got it when I was a kid and was awful at dungeon crawlers, so I never got very far, but I absolutely loved the first bit we're about to get to. Then I played it again when I was older and better at dungeon RPGs... and gave up at a later point  . I will say while the setting is always fun and well executed, the nature of the combat can make this game drag out pretty terribly. I'm far happier to read about it than play it.
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 19:43
|
|
|
Awakening a stranger in a strange land When we last left our protagonists they were in the process of being blown up by their crashed shuttle.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7tUMQU4lp0 That dream again.I have to discuss it with Chris sometime. Time to wake up. I must prepare for the flight. The flight. The shuttle. Was already there. Has already happened. Pain. Something is wrong, something isn't right. More pain! What happened? God, the crash! What happened? Oooh, the pain, why don't I wake up? Hofstedt and I are going out... All full of plants and animals. The planet is alive! The colors, the greens, everything is green... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOmBG3Q3MA8  Srrniak? Rriiba nes anrji. Grinaard dra besiir wreniid? What in the world... WHERE AM I? Who... WHAT is that? I thought I was AWAKE!I have to get up and... Ouch! drat! Quite a clear sign of recovery, I'd say. Welcome back among the living! Do you remember the crash landing and our getting out? Good. Shortly after the shuttle exploded like in a bad American television show. My first memory after that is being transported on a stretcher. When I saw who was helping me, I immediately passed out again. Driscoll, these beings are intelligent! I can see that this... house didn't grow out of the ground. Although if you look at it more carefully... You don't understand, there is intelligent life here. We've made contact with the third non-human race! Their culture is fantastic and... Hofstedt, please! My head is spinning even without your attempts at explanation. Start from the beginning for goodness' sake. How could the instruments be so wrong? We set out with breathing masks expecting a Mars-like world, and end up in a damned jungle more dense than anything on Earth! I have no idea what went wrong. YOu can feel most of the facts with your own body. We find ourselves on an oxygen-rich, warm world with an enormous variety of flora and fauna. The gravity, as expected, is a bit under 1G.Up to now our immune system has handled the local microorganisms. The explosion got you more than me. You've been unconscious for almost 30 days. Stop! Don't even try it! You shouldn't try to stand for at least another 30 days! I've noticed! Is anything else wrong with me? I don't think so. Some broken bones, burns and probably minor internal injuries. The head injury gave me the most concern, but you appear to be completely coherent. Your prosthesis is operational. Thank you. Continue. I was back on my feet quite quickly and have made contact with our hosts. Where shall I begin? You're a scientist! Just stick to the facts. I will try my best. The people here call themselves Iskai. As you've seen they are built like humans only taller and thinner. Also, they still have all their body fur.They appear to have descended from beasts of prey as you can tell from the shape of their head. Otherwise, their history runs somewhat parallel to that of Homo Sapiens. The Iskai are mammals with two sexes just like us. Their technology isn't too advanced, yet they are quite capable of astounding architectural feats. The people that live here have taken good care of us and they've helped me keep you alive. Does that mean some kind of medicine man cured me? No. On the other hand: Who knows? I was completely out of it our first day here. The only thing I can remember is that one of these fellows was in the room and fumbled around with us a bit. I don't think he was trying to impress us with some kind of hocus pocus. He was working with glittering plant seeds. I was too weak to protest against it, but apparently it didn't hurt us. Then I used three of our medipacs to get you to your current state. Drenis bat ardriiba na gendi? Kriidak na grriina, ah, strokiri. Badri? Frji wan drobia. Lanarii! Well, I can see you haven't wasted your time. You've learned their language in just four weeks. I only know a couple of words. Except for the pronunciation, the dialect is astoundingly easy to learn. I'll give you a basic course during the next few days so that you can catch up. Do it slowly, Hofstedt. I'm still trying to absorb all this. This situation is... I mean... What we are experiencing here is unbelievable! In real life, things like this don't happen to normal people... Heh, heh, be quiet, Driscoll. I'm sure anyone who has experienced something that only happens in movies would feel the same way. But this is really happening! Accept it, and you'll see that you'll be on your feet in no time. Then we must find a way to get back to the ship. The ship, right. I'd be really surprised if it is still in orbit. I think it will land at the predetermined point. From there we can build a research station instead of a mining structure. That way your company can at least make some money on the exclusive rights to the first documentary. We must find out where we are and how we can get to the landing point. Since our shuttle has been destroyed beyond repair, the trip to the Toronto could take a long time. That's right. But, first we have to learn to communicate. Sleep for a while, and then we'll begin the first lesson. O.K. And, Hofstedt... Yes? Thank you for everything.a bit of a long expository dump, but Rainer is apparently the man to go to when you need to become conversational in a language in no time.   Your nurse surely won't be happy about that. But, please, take it easy - it looks as if you'll be walking again shortly. I'm doing O.K., aren't I? It's time to finally leave this room. O.K. But YOU talk to Giria!For the first time since we said yes to go on our ill-fated flight, we have controls again! While it is tempting to leave the room straight away, it is also not the best idea. Not because Giria might eat us, because she won't. She's a nice lady. No, it is rather because of things like this.  It's actually just a bunch of stims. Hardly counts as "equipment", but still super helpful. In general there's a couple of lovely items in the various containers in here, such as a rope, and a couple of crappy weapons.  Now we can go.  Yes, MOM. Giria leaves after this. Phew! I thought it would be worse! Hasn't she told us about this Sebai-whatever before? Yes. I think he is the head of this family. He must be very old if I understand her correctly. That doesn't mean much compared to us. The Iskai apparently only get to be around 30 to 40 years old. No wonder they are so frantic. They always seem to be running at top speed. Just look at Giria now. I wanted to thank her for her care, to calm her down, but she's already disappeared.Never mind, let's take a look around the house. We get to explore a tiny bit of the building now before we're taken to see Sebai-li-Wrinn  No wonder with this heat. How helpful!   This iskai kid is of no use, but I'm okay with that. His face markings are kind of cool. As we continue exploring, Rainer finds the most important thing.   Appetising! And scientific! Though we can't go around exploring this tiny corner forever. As we go a bit further, Giria catches us to take us to the Sebai.  Of course, we'll be glad to talk to him. Don't be ungrateful, Driscoll. But we probably should not talk with each other in the presence of this Sebai. It would probably be considered impolite.  So... the Sebai is apparently a kid. Dsarii-ma, Sebai-li Wrinn. You and your clan have saved our lives, and we'd like to thank you for it. The South Wind Clan is famous for its hospitality. We're glad to have helped you. Is there any way we can show our appreciation for your generosity? I'm pleased about that, Tom and Rainiir. In fact, I would like to make a request of you.I don't know with what magic your metal boat moves through the air, but it seems to be completely destroyed now. The rest of the metal was recovered because it is of inestimable value for us. Now, there is a disagreement about whom the remains belong to. Since I have the impression that your vehicle is no longer of use to you, it would be very helpful to the clan if you could sign the metal over to us. I am sure such a declaration would be accepted by the other interested parties. Tom, you seem to be the leader. What do you think? Here we have two choices. Either we can tell him that we agree, or that we must reject it. Agreeing is the right choice. If we reject it, he's just going to kick us out of his clan halls and we lose out on a couple of useful things. So let's agree. Especially because, even in-universe... What the heck are we going to use a ton of scrap metal for? Of course, we agree, Sebai-li Wrinn. It's the least we can do for your assistance. I'm the one who has to thank you. You are helping the South Wind Clan during a time of scarce funds. Please place your name and your mark on this document, Tom. What do you mean by mark? Oh, excuse me, how dumb of me. Giria already told me that humans have no scent glands. That is how we normally sign contracts. But in this case, just your signature will probably suffice. Here, please, Tom.Tom places his name on a document made of thick, paper-like material. Thank you very much for your signature. It relieves me of some problems.I can talk more after this matter has been taken care of. Is there anything further you would like to know? Ahem, pardon me, Sebai-li Wrinn, but Giria told me about your old age and yet you seem to be quite young... Can it be that no one has explained to you about our holiest ritual?Well, I am actually over fifty years old, an age that no Iskai can reach. I transferred my spirit into the body of a newborn, in this case my own son. The Sebai ritual is the most powerful magical act which we are capable of. It can be performed by anyone, however slight his magical talent. You must know that the Trii of a newborn has very special abilities during the first week. If an adult touches the newborn's Trii against his, he can transfer his entire self into the spirit of the child. He or she can begin life anew, the body of the adult dies at the time of the ceremony. Naturally, it is forbidden to perform the ritual without the council circle's approval. Besides the abduction of a newborn, this is the worst crime there is! According to our laws, the criminal and his entire family are punished by death. Only a few special people, the Chosen, can undergo the ritual. Further, the ritual cannot be carried out without the newborn's mother's consent. Usually it is the partner of the Chosen one. If the ritual is performed, the Chosen one receives the title of Sebai, followed by a number which indicates how often he or she has been through the ritual. Therefore my title Sebai-li means that I have gone through the ritual for the first time. My god, Driscoll! That is absolutely unbelievable! Fantastic! Think of... I know! However, try to remain courteous and speak Iskai!At this point after this long talk, we can do as we do and ask a lot of questions for extra exposition. Most of it is entirely relevant, so I'm singling out one keyword. If you want me to be completely thorough in dumping everything everyone has to say, just speak up in the thread. What can you say about Trii The Trii, which each of us bears on our forehead, is a very special organ. It is seen as the center of the spirit. Injuries to the Trii can lead to personality disorders, memory loss and even death. If two people place their Triis against each other, they can feel each other's emotions, and especially gifted individuals can read the other person's thoughts.So what I'm getting for this is that Iskai pretty much have external brains. This really doesn't sound practical. As we turn to leave, Sebai-Li Wrinn stops us.   Rainer will never stop being fascinated by literally anything.  But we are RPG protagonists. And we must do as RPG protagonists do.  In here we get more lovely equipment.  A door!  A locked door! By using Wrinn's key, we can enter.  In the bottom right you can see a flight of stairs. That's where we're going. Surely there's nothing dangerous around here.  It is kind of dark though. It is kind of really dark. We light one of our many many pilfered torches.  Still lovely, less lovely. We go around looting the crap out of the place.  This bit of scrap metal has a surviving watch! Another one had more cartridges for our gun. Once we start using the gun, we'll need to make them last for a bit, because these are the last bullets for a very very long time.  And there we go. We continue on a bit and  Uh-oh. A collapse! And what kind of animals are these? They look aggressive! Pay attention, Driscoll!And with those wise words from our resident scientist, this update ends. Next update will take on our first taste of combat, with nothing but crappy weapons and crappy characters. Luckily the enemies down here are even worse than we are. Exercu fucked around with this message at 22:40 on May 18, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 22:33
|
|
|
Where are my cat breasts, Exercu? 
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 22:39
|
|
|
THE BAR posted:Where are my cat breasts, Exercu? They're in the video
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 22:41
|
|
|
Exercu posted:They're in the video They weren't for me! I'm outraged!
|
|
#
?
May 18, 2015 22:46
|
|
|
I never did finish this game, I just found the dungeons to be too much of a slog, even when I was cheating to have infinite HP. Is there no way to use the keyboard to move around? Using the mouse to move around in the 3D dungeons sucks. Now when I try to play it again I can't even beat the first combat :P
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 03:50
|
|
|
chiefnewo posted:I never did finish this game, I just found the dungeons to be too much of a slog, even when I was cheating to have infinite HP. Is there no way to use the keyboard to move around? Using the mouse to move around in the 3D dungeons sucks. Now when I try to play it again I can't even beat the first combat :P You can use the arrow keys. I do. It's terrible if you don't.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 06:51
|
|
|
Oh man, finally an LP of this weird, but not entirely bad, game. I remember it as one of the first RPG's I ever really played, and they really tried a lot of interesting things. Also, when you speak of Blue Byte, don't forget that they also did the Battle Isle games, which I'll always remember them more for than the Settlers games.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 07:10
|
|
|
One thing I really like about this game is that it gets down the whole sense of exploration. There's dangerous stuff, there's cool stuff, and the characters actually get involved and interested. Some people help you out, some people gently caress you over, and a lot of the focus of the first half of the game is basically a cool road trip across a weird and interesting alien world. The actual gameplay isn't that great, but the general feel it gets across is well worth it.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 07:13
|
|
|
Night10194 posted:One thing I really like about this game is that it gets down the whole sense of exploration. There's dangerous stuff, there's cool stuff, and the characters actually get involved and interested. Some people help you out, some people gently caress you over, and a lot of the focus of the first half of the game is basically a cool road trip across a weird and interesting alien world. It's cinematic as all hell, with a good story structure to boot!
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 09:32
|
|
|
Man, I remember playing the demo of this game over and over.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 09:33
|
|
|
Exercu posted:You can use the arrow keys. I do. It's terrible if you don't. Huh, I wonder what I was doing wrong. Oh well I'll try it later.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 11:24
|
|
|
chiefnewo posted:Huh, I wonder what I was doing wrong. Oh well I'll try it later. Also, and I'll cover this in the update going up later today, drinking potions is a free action. 95% of problems with combat can be resolved by chainchugging potions. edit: the rest can be resolved by the fourth party-member breaking the game in half. Exercu fucked around with this message at 11:44 on May 19, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 11:41
|
|
|
Exercu posted:
Well, that's not a little disturbing. So you can achieve immortality by killing another individual, destroying his personality and replacing it with your own. And you have to do that on a regular basis, say every 30 years or so. So how is this different from being a vampire? And it's recognized as the abhorrent crime that it is by most of the culture, except for the super-special Chosen people who get special permission from the council. And the council is, of course, completely and utterly above being bribed or handing out immortality to their favorite political supporters... And naturally, the council would never engage in a little quid pro quo and vote for other council members to be Chosen, thereby ensuring that the same councilmembers could rule forever and establish a permanent lock on the government. Nope, no disturbing implications here.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 12:46
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 4, 2024 22:04 |
|
|
Hell yeah, I love Albion. Played through it a couple of times. Thought I had put it on the LP request list a few years back. I think that was my first computer RPG, my mother bought it for her...Pentium 90 I think. Semi-spoilery questions for the future: Are you planning to use the cursor range exploit to steal stuff from stores? Are you going to grind money and experience before leaving the first continent so you can buy good equipment for your Iskai you won't get on the second (and first half of the third) continent, and grind up the first caster's level/spells while having stores with infinite magic seeds available? Are you gonna grind money on the second continent (for example on bandits) to be able to buy all the cool odds and ends from the shop in the town south of the bandit chasm and maybe level up your second caster? Also when I was watching Cameron's Avatar it kept seeming like they cribbed half of the alien planet and culture straight from Albion  Also, I think the protagonist actually having a prosthetic literally never becomes plot relevant. It's visible in the manual's art but the in-game paperdoll doesn't have it, and Rainer saying "Your prosthesis is operational" in part 2 of the LP might well be the last time it ever comes up. I might be misremembering but I guess it's mostly just a piece of world-building. "Yeah we can do prosthetic limp replacement so well in the future it doesn't impair you at all" Psykmoe fucked around with this message at 13:43 on May 19, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 19, 2015 13:30
|
|